I absolutely love this movie short by Nacho Vigalondo! I found it before I was a CI teacher and used it when I was teaching telling time. I no longer teach “how to tell the time” as a specific lesson and instead incorporate lots of reps of a variety of times in my stories. But I DO still show the video from now and again – for me, the quirky, dark humor perfectly depicts that of some of my Spanish (from Spain) friends. For my students, it has become a cult favorite and something I’m known for. Each year, the upper levels ask if I’ve initiated my newbies by showing this film. Don’t ask what time it is in my classes, it is ALWAYS 7:35 de la mañana!
This year I found a new use for my beloved movie short! I was teaching Martina Bex’s TPT lesson ‘Yo mas te adoro’ by Morat.
Here is the video of the song:
As per my usual, I added a pre-lesson to teach a little about the group and where they’re from, Colombia. I really like to include as much cultural information as possible in my lessons because the more students know about the world, the more they realize we are all connected by ‘sameness.’ (Read here and here for more information about how I incorporate culture into my music lessons).
In Martina’s lesson, she creates a narrative based on the song about a boy who adores a girl who maybe just doesn’t feel the same way about him. One day recently, I realized the connection between my fave movie short and Martina’s lesson: the boy adores the girl in Yo mas te adoro and the man “adores” the woman in the coffee shop of the Nacho Vigalondo movie short.
MIND BLOWN!!! I quickly made screen shots and this became my parallel story! I now had something different AND COMPELLING to compare and contrast with. More reps in more compelling ways will hopefully reach more kids. We had a lot of fun comparing the “crazy guy” in the movie short to the “normal guy” in the TPT lesson. I’ve used movie shorts as Movie Talks, for culture, to teach vocab… but this was my first time to use one as a parallel story. (Read this post and this post on why I feel it is important to repeat target structures).
This is definitely an activity I will be using again!
I would love to hear about ways that you incorporate repetitions and variety of context! Shoot me a message or comment below!
 |
| Click here to register and use coupon! |
I will be presenting with friend Abby Whicker at Comprehensible Online about how using music to teach culture has impacted our classrooms in the session titled, “Going Beyond the Cloze: The Hidden Benefits of Using Music to Teach Culture.” Hope to “see you” there!!
